VNV Nation, iVardensphere

For better or worse, VNV Nation were in a crop of 1990s industrial artists who helped redefine the genre, throwing in modern electronic sounds and theoretically making the songwriting and overall style more accessible. However, sometimes the blending of trance supersaw synth lines, trip-hop vibes, and the militaristic post-punk feel of D.A.F. actually made the music less palatable or focused than power-electronics pioneers Whitehouse. That said, when VNV Nation's shameless methods of polish and genre-splicing work, they really work. For instance, moody synth-pop cut "Arena" from 2005's Matter+Form, with its lush synth arpeggios and Abacab-era-Phil Collins-style drum-pummeling, feels pretty undeniable. The Hamburg, Germany-based outfit haven't dropped a proper album since 2015 detour Resonance: Music For Orchestra Vol. 1. On this tour, they'll be playing two albums in their entirety, 1999's Empires and 2011's Automatic. —Joel Shanahan